New Jersey Supreme Court Advisory Committee on Professional Ethics Ethics Opinions
Free plain-English summaries of legal ethics opinions issued by the New Jersey Supreme Court Advisory Committee on Professional Ethics, with full citations and source links on every page.
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May a part-time municipal magistrate who still practices law represent a builder or developer buying land in his municipality when the land will need variances or subdivision approvals?
The opinion concluded such representation would for all practical purposes violate Canon 6, because the land purchases at issue plainly contemplated later proceedings before municipal agencies, taking…
May a municipal attorney defend a criminal defendant charged with an offense committed in the same municipality the attorney represents?
The opinion concluded such representation would be unethical, because defending a person charged with a criminal offense within the municipality is a task conflicting with the municipal attorney's dut…
May the attorney for a sewer or utility authority also represent developers, and may members of one firm represent a sewerage authority in a different municipality from where they represent developers?
The opinion concluded it is unethical for the attorney of a municipal agency such as a sewer or utility authority to represent developers in the same municipality, but found no conflict in members of …
May the attorney for a municipal housing authority represent private clients before the same municipality's court, zoning board, planning board, and other agencies?
The opinion concluded the housing authority attorney could not appear before the municipal court, board of adjustment, planning board, township committee, or other municipal bodies of the municipality…
May members of a law firm appear before a city's court and agencies when one partner works full time for that city in a non-legal civil service job enforcing the building code?
The opinion concluded the firm could not appear before the city's court or any of its bodies, because what the municipal-employee partner could not do his partners could not do either, and the result …
May a lawyer who is an appointed member of a Chapter 6 board of education represent private clients before the municipality's court and other boards?
The opinion concluded it would be improper, because a board of education functioning under Title 18, Chapter 6, is subject to municipal control through the board of estimate, so the appointed attorney…
If two former partners keep separate offices but share a conference room and still refer each other work, is one barred from practicing before the municipality where the other is the municipal attorney?
The opinion concluded the two lawyers were 'office associates' under Rule 1:26-5(c) because they shared a conference room and referred each other work, so the rule barred the inquirer from practicing …
Can a municipal attorney do the legal work on a developer's project if the developer deposits the fees with the municipality instead of paying the attorney directly?
The opinion concluded it would be unethical. A municipal attorney cannot perform a developer's project legal work, even when the fee is routed indirectly through a deposit with the municipality, becau…
Can a municipal attorney also serve as attorney for the planning board, zoning board, or other boards in the same municipality?
The opinion concluded that a municipal attorney cannot serve as attorney for any board or agency of the same municipality if there is or may be a conflict of interest in a particular situation, but it…
Can a former municipal attorney who is still handling the town's tax-foreclosure cases take on a private client's tax-assessment appeal against that same town?
The opinion concluded he cannot. While he is still representing the municipality on its tax-sale foreclosures, he cannot at the same time represent a private taxpayer in an appeal whose interests are …
Can a lawyer who serves on a municipal parking authority represent private clients in that municipality's municipal court or before its other agencies?
The opinion concluded he cannot. An attorney who is a member of a municipal parking authority cannot represent private clients before the municipal court or any other public agency of that municipalit…
Can a lawyer who sued in his own name as his client's assignee keep the money collected to pay off fees the client owes him in other matters?
The opinion concluded he cannot. Suing as an accommodation assignee is not itself a violation, but taking the assigned claim or the money collected as payment of fees earned in other matters amounts t…
Can a municipal attorney who heads the town's law department represent a pedestrian injured in an accident within the municipality?
The opinion concluded he is not precluded on these facts, where the police took no action and no member of the law department was involved, but the Committee reiterated that an attorney in such situat…
Can a lawyer serve as a board of education's attorney when his law partner is the attorney for the township?
The opinion concluded that he may, because the township and the board of education are distinct and separate entities with neither able to interfere with the other, so no conflict exists, but both par…
Can a lawyer's firm defend a wrongful-death action when a partner once represented the deceased in a marital dispute with the plaintiff widow?
The Committee concluded the representation was improper. The partner's knowledge from representing the deceased husband in the prior marital separation was chargeable to the firm and would be used aga…
Can the attorney for a residential developer, who also represents the construction lender, represent an individual buyer purchasing a home in the tract?
The Committee concluded that, unlike an isolated sale, a developer's attorney generally cannot also represent a home buyer, because the desire to keep the developer's and lender's business and his int…
Can two law partners each represent a different municipality when the municipalities take opposing positions in the same county-tax litigation?
The Committee concluded a conflict of interest existed. Because the litigation could reduce one municipality's county tax while increasing the other's, the two partners could not represent the opposin…
Can a municipal prosecutor represent his own client on appeal to the county court, challenging a conviction from the same municipal court he serves?
The Committee concluded it would be improper. A municipal prosecutor is in effect the municipality's attorney, so appearing on a county-court appeal that challenges the municipal court's determination…
Can the counsel to a municipal parking authority also represent private clients before that municipality's court or its other public agencies?
The Committee concluded he cannot. Although a parking authority is largely autonomous, it is by statute an agency and instrumentality of the municipality, so its counsel may not represent private clie…
Can one attorney represent both defendants accused of adultery in two separate divorce suits arising from the same conduct, where each defendant consents?
The Committee concluded there was no impropriety. Assuming the adultery involved the same facts and each defendant gave full, unequivocal consent, the defendants had a common interest with no conflict…
Can a lawyer try a will contest for the estate when his own partner, who witnessed the will, must testify to the decedent's competency?
The Committee concluded it could be proper. Canon 19's reference to 'other counsel' does not necessarily exclude a partner of the lawyer-witness, so each case turns on its facts, with full disclosure …
If one member of a law firm serves as a municipal councilman, can another member be attorney for the same town's elected board of education?
The Committee concluded there was no conflict. Because the elected board of education was autonomous and chose its own employees without the council's approval, the council and the board operated as d…
After leaving office as county counsel, can a lawyer represent a private client in an action against the county board of freeholders?
The Committee concluded he may not if the new matter relates in any way to matters he handled as county counsel. A public-agency former client cannot consent to the conflict, and the lawyer must resol…
Can the attorney for an elected board of education represent private clients before the town's other boards or in matters against the town itself?
The Committee concluded there was no conflict. An elected board of education is autonomous and distinct from the municipality, so its attorney may appear for private clients before municipal boards an…
Can a developer's salaried attorney handle condominium closings for a flat fee without clearly telling buyers they should retain their own independent counsel?
The Committee concluded the attorney acted improperly. The flat closing fee covering 'all other usual closing costs' and the lukewarm notice that buyers could retain counsel did not amount to the full…
Can a lawyer who serves as a trustee on a municipal library board also act as the paid attorney for that same board?
The Committee concluded he should not. A library trustee who is an attorney becomes an adviser to himself when he represents his own board, an inherent conflict like the dual representation Canon 6 fo…
Can a lawyer who sits as an unpaid member of a municipal board of health represent private clients before the town's other agencies and its municipal court?
The Committee concluded he could not. An attorney who holds office as a board-of-health member may not appear for private clients before the other municipal agencies or the municipal court of the same…
Can a seller's attorney accept a fee paid by the buyer, under the sale agreement, for legal services the attorney rendered only to the seller?
The Committee concluded it was proper, provided the seller's attorney fixes the fee himself under Canon 12 and it is reasonable compensation agreed with the attorney, not a fee set solely between the …
Can a lawyer who counseled a husband and his second wife about their failing marriage later represent the wife in a divorce against the husband?
The Committee concluded he may not. Having counseled the husband and likely received his confidences while trying to save the marriage, the lawyer could not represent the second wife against him, and …
Can a town's 'Corporation Legislative Counsel,' who advises the council on ordinances, handle tax appeals, negligence suits, and other cases against the same municipality?
The Committee concluded he may not. As an employee whose client is in effect the entire municipality, the Corporation Legislative Counsel cannot handle cases of any nature against the municipality he …
Can the counsel to a city housing authority appear for private clients before that city's board of adjustment, planning board, or other agencies?
The Committee concluded they cannot. Counsel to a city housing authority has the entire municipality as his client, so he may not appear for private clients before the city's board of adjustment, plan…
Can a lawyer who sits on a municipal zoning board of adjustment, or a member of that lawyer's firm, represent private clients before the same town's boards and governing body?
No. The Committee concluded that neither the zoning-board member nor any member of the lawyer's firm may appear for private clients before the municipality's planning board, zoning board, or governing…
Can a municipal prosecutor who was excused from a disorderly-persons case involving a client and the client's wife later prepare a separation agreement for that client?
Yes. The Committee concluded the later representation was not a violation, because the prosecutor had no personal connection with the investigation or prosecution of the disorderly-persons case and ha…
Can a lawyer who approved a sales agreement for a buyer later represent the seller in suing that buyer for default under the same agreement?
No. The Committee concluded it is improper, because the representation might require the lawyer to assert a claim under the very agreement he approved for the former client, and a lawyer should not at…
Can a lawyer who works for a state agency be assigned to represent an indigent criminal defendant, or must he be excused because he is a state employee?
He may serve. The Committee concluded there is no impropriety or conflict merely because the assigned attorney is a state employee, except where the charged crime involves the State itself, in which c…
Can a lawyer keep a percentage or rebate paid by a title insurance company on the client's transaction?
Only with the client's consent after full disclosure. The Committee concluded the lawyer may keep a title-insurance rebate if the client consents after full disclosure; if the client refuses, the reba…
Can an attorney who also serves as a municipal clerk represent defendants in that municipality's municipal court?
No. The Committee concluded it is improper, applying the same principle that bars a member of a municipal governing body from practicing before its municipal court, because the clerk is identified in …
Can a seller's or lender's attorney close title for a development home advertised with 'No Closing Fees' without telling the buyer to get independent counsel?
No. The Committee concluded the attorney acts improperly, because a clandestine conflict exists when the seller's lawyer prepares the documents and closes title without fully advising the buyer of the…
In New Jersey, can a lawyer who is a State Police officer also serve as a municipal prosecutor?
No. The Committee concluded that serving simultaneously as a New Jersey State Police officer and as a municipal prosecutor created an appearance of impropriety under the then-existing RPC 1.7(c)(2) an…
If a lawyer accepts an unpaid county appointment (planning board, park commission, county college), how is it decided which client matters the firm must then decline?
The opinion concluded the Committee would not create a formula and that whether the appointment is paid is irrelevant; under the Supreme Court's Perillo standard, the lawyer must decide, case by case …
Can a municipal court judge share a law practice with a municipal prosecutor from another town, and may the judge's firm handle a criminal appeal arising from his own court's county?
The supplement concluded a municipal court judge may associate with a municipal prosecutor of another municipality only if the other lawyers refrain from all criminal-defense work within the county wh…
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Legal ethics opinions from the New Jersey Supreme Court Advisory Committee on Professional Ethics interpret the rules of professional conduct for working lawyers, in response to inquiries from members and committees. They are not binding like court discipline decisions, but courts and discipline boards treat formal opinions as substantial guidance on how the rules apply. Every opinion above has a plain-English question and short answer, plus a link to the original source on the bar's site.